Friday, December 9, 2016

Snapshot of our life.

I know someday I will look back at this time with great fondness. I want to be able to remember it. Remember exactly what a day in our life is like at Christmas time 2016. So as I lay on the couch and stare at the computer screen at 4:15 am with our Charlie Brown Christmas tree glowing in the background. (Of course on a table so Brand can't reach it.) I figure I should describe a day in our life, a random normal day, like yesterday. December 7, 2016. Brad's 11 month birthday.

It started like any other morning. Whether Brad woke me up at 3:48 am or I woke up and then heard him crying shortly after... either way that is usually how my day starts. I make a bottle and grab Brad out of his pack n play. We lay down in the bed in his room and snuggle while he drinks his bottle. When he finishes I try and put him in the pack n play but usually that doesn't work. For some reason his favorite place to sleep in the early morning is laying on me. Usually laying on my chest with his head snuggled up against my face. I love this part of the morning. I lay there and look through my phone as I feel Brad's chest rise and fall with each breath. Eventually when I know he is deep asleep I put him in his pack n play and hope he will sleep for a few hours so Jason can get some sleep.

One of my favorite morning rituals lately is to chat with my dear friend, Linz who currently lives in Japan. It is perfect. She is getting ready for bed, I am just waking up, we are both in our elements. And we chat about all sorts of things.... tv shows, how picturesque Okinawa is, babies, shopping, anything.... But by the end of each conversation I am always so grateful she's in my life and I am determined to go visit her.

I then go pack my breakfast and lunch. Yesterday it was the homemade chicken noodle soup I had made earlier this week, delicious tangerines from Jason's parents house, and a string cheeses. I put on my work out clothes and made sure I packed all my school clothes and was out the door to the gym by 5:30.

As I drove down to Utah Valley I listened to an audiobook. Currently it's a fun series called Defy. It's kinda a Mulan story of a girl who pretends to be a boy solider. It's entertaining and I am loving listening to it but the idea that a 17 year old girl is the best fighter in an entire army.... kinda unbelievable.

I drove to the Vasa Fitness in American Fork to work out even though I prefer to avoid that gym at all cost. Beyond other things.... there are countless women with their hair down and make up on at 6 am. You can't trust gym goers with their hair down and make up on at 6 am. But it has 5 stair steppers... so my chances of getting on one is higher at that gym than any other gym so I went. Just my luck I got on one as soon as I got there. Wednesday used to be my favorite gym class of all time... But sadly my instructor moved... luckily I recorded 15 of her classes. So most Wednesdays I meet a friend at my school and we put the class on a projector screen in the gym. But this Wednesday my plantar facititis was acting up too much so I figured I should do the low impact stair stepper. Man that machine is awesome. I sweat more on the stair stepper than any other form of exercise.

I hurried to school to get ready in the bathroom and be at an IEP meeting by 7:30. After the meeting I got my classroom ready for the day and jumped right into teaching. Right now I have BYU student that has been working with me for the last year preparing to be my student teacher starting in January. She is awesome and I am so excited to get to work with her.

Sometime in my day I always try and make it around to see my dear friend Brittney's classroom. Every day she has some inspiring thing to share or I have an idea I want to bounce off her. Every day. Yesterday she was working on a Christmas present for each member of her family. It looked like some type of activity to go with the Book of Mormon. It was awesome. She is awesome.

Yesterdays classes.... the first 3 periods of the day are always kinda rough. I don't know what it is. The kids don't really trust me yet. I mean they are good kids. And I love some of them.... but in all they aren't quite there yet. It's always a bit of a battle.

So it's a breath of fresh air when I get to go to lunch. The highlight of my day. Such a good group of people that I adore and love so much. Dave, the shop teacher, is probably one of the most unique, caring, good guys..... actually there is no use even trying to describe him because he's so unique it wouldn't make sense. But yesterday he brought a hat for me to give to Jason because it is a motorcycle company. Most giving, kind, heart of gold guy ever. But then you have Bill and Bart who are also made of gold. Anyway.... I could go on and on about the people I am lucky enough to eat lunch with every day. But words can't describe it. I feel so privileged to know and work with such great people.

I texted Jason to see what he and Brad were up to. I got a picture back of Brad chewing on some wood or playing with a new toy... or sticking his arm in the toilet. You know, just typical baby stuff.

And then my last class of the day...... this class should not be so wonderful. This class should seriously be the class from hell. When I show anyone the students in this class they can't believe I haven't quit yet. But for some reason and I thank my lucky stars every class period.... this class has the best energy ever. This class is full of ADHD, slow learning, non english speaking punks. When I say full.... there are 41 students in this class (I only have 38 desks) and my classroom is TINY. So when I say full I mean full.... but for some reason this class is just absolutely wonderful. They love me and I love them. Yesterday one of the really really punk kids actually came to class on time prepared with his binder! I gave him a sucker because I was so proud of him. He is so used to me yelling at him for coming unprepared that he was absolutely shocked. His smile and sense of accomplishment was priceless. (Baby steps people.)

As they were working on memorizing the states and capitals we were listening to Christmas music. A She and Him song came on. I love She and Him Christmas and Zooey Deschanel. So I said, "Anyone that can tell me a movie that this singer is in gets a sucker!" (Usually kids are clueless) But they all yelled out "Elf!" So the whole class got suckers.... (I rarely give out candy so they were so excited)

After I introduced the huge project we are working on and they were all busy working we just talked as they worked. With about 15 minutes left most were finishing up on the first part of the assignment. One of them said, "Mrs. B. Why are you still teaching??? You could be making so much money doing something else!" I laughed and said, "But then I wouldn't have met my husband." They were so confused.... I guess I hadn't told their class how Jason and I met. So I said, "Do you want to watch my wedding video???" They were so so so so excited. So for the last portion of my wedding video. They loved it. I love it. I smile every time I watch it. It was so fun.

After the students left and I cleaned up my messes of the day I ventured down to visit my friend Marja in the tracking office. We talked about our favorite afternoon discussion, what we are going to make for dinner. We share recipes and new foods. It's awesome. After I stopped by the gym to watch some of the girls basketball game on my way out of the door. Freshmen girls basketball.... oh so painful. I truly believe anyone brave enough to coach freshmen girls is going straight to heaven.

As I drove home from school I called Jason to see what he was doing. He was just getting ready to put Brad down for a nap. So I listened to my audiobook again on the commute home. I am busting through a lot of books this way. The only problem is sometimes I get home and don't want to stop listening!

By the time I got home Brad was fast asleep and Jason was taking a nap on the couch. (It's rough being a stay at home parent) So I took my daily bath.... oh how I love baths in the winter. They are terrible for my already horrendously dry skin... but I can't resist. I listened to my book and enjoyed the bubbles.

After Jason and Brad were still sleeping so I went in the kitchen and decided to make one of my favorite quick comfort foods for dinner. It's a recipe I got from my mom and she got from her mom. I can imagine my great grandma making this recipe on the dairy farm in Plane City back in the depression.... and it feels good to remember my awesome heritage. The recipe is boiled potatoes with a cheesy sauce with bits of ham in it. But it got me thinking.... how much of what we eat is passed on. And how if unhealthy things are eaten in families how difficult it would be to break the cycle of obesity. Anyway, just a thought.

When Jason and Brad woke up we ate dinner and Jason showed me all of the cool new things that he and Brad have been doing. Games they are playing, new ways to sing Patty Cake. We watched an episode of New Girl until Jason's phone started ringing. I assumed someone was calling. But he said, "It's my alarm! It's time to read scriptures!" We have decided to finish the Book of Mormon before the New Year so Jason created an alarm to make sure we do it.

After scriptures and some tv Jason had to hurry off to Scouts. So Brad and I hung out (me barely able to keep my eyes open while Brad terrorized the house) until I felt like Brad was tired enough for his last nap of the day. So at 7:30 Brad started his nap... and I went to sleep.